Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto which belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, Inuyasha which belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, D&D which belongs to Wizards of the Coast, or any D&D Fluff which belong to their respective owners. This work of fiction is intended as a not-for-profit piece meant to increase the Reverend's talents as an author, for entertainment, etc, etc. If you really want to pay, the Reverend will still accept donations. The Reverend is not responsible for any bodily harm done by this work of fiction or during the perusal of this work of fiction. Any lost body parts, brain damage, injury to eyes, neck, mouth, ears, or oesophagus, is the fault of the reader. However any beneficial health condition is most likely the result of reading this fiction. The Reverend is good like that. By reading this disclaimer you are now legally bound to watch SiCKO, play Magic & Mayhem (Not the Warcraft mod) and donate your stem cells to science.
Prologue: That which sets up the Story.
Twelve years ago a giant demon fox attacked, it is said that a single swing of its nine great tails could cause might earthquakes or terrible floods. But this story has little to do with that fox, because quite frankly it's dead. When it died its body was dragged back to the demonic realm, at the instant of its death a great whirlpool formed in the sky and dragged in the demon and the soul man who could stand against it, the Fourth Shadow-of-the-Flame. In the wake of the demon's attack there was great unrest and the Third Shadow-of-the-Flame was reinstated to his position.
Again little of this is important to the event that unfolded, but it helps to set the mood. Trailing the giant demon was a much smaller demon, instead of being a mammoth menacing monstrosity. It was a fuzzy, fluffy, fur ball, a soft orange fuzzy, fluffy, fur ball. The first one on the scene was the Third, who realized instantly what would happen to the pup should the villagers find out just what it was. So the Third hid the pup in his voluminous robes. Hiding it for a short period of time was child's play, no one dared to think their precious leader would hide something so important from them.
When he returned to his home he let the pup out. Once out the pup acted like any other pup. It sniffed, it scratched, it gnawed and it nibbled. It gnawed and nibbled much more then the Third though was natural, so he pried its mouth open to verify that it was indeed teething. For his troubles he got a few scrapes. He also got a chew toy from the Inuzuka so that the damned thing would stop chewing his furniture.
In the end the chew toy didn't stop the damned fox from chewing the Third's furniture, it just did it less often.
After a few days of keeping the fox pup a secret the Third knew he had to tell someone, it was driving him spare. It gnawed on everything, including his paperwork, for which he was actually pleased, he could now claim, and have 'proof' that Kakashi's dogs ate his paperwork, but it also gnawed on his sock, which he didn't appreciate, especially the ones with the reinforced heel, they were his most comfortable pair, AND the company that produced them was driven out of business by some punk-ass corporate group.
So it came to pass that the third had to tell others off the fox. He told three people. The Inuzuka Elder, one Takeo Inuzuka, a self-described gentleman, whom he told for his experience with canines, and out of an extraordinary hatred of puns. He also told his children, Asuma, whom had been a chounin for a few years, and was vying for promotion to jounin, thus he could protect the pup from all but the most determined attacker. His other child, Umeko, who had chosen not to be a ninja, but instead had opted to form a family of her own, she would care for the pup and with a the application of a simple illusionary seal on a dog's collar her husband and eventual children would never know that they were caring for the fox's offspring.
And so it continued for nearly a years, until one word changed their cozy little set up, "Gra'dpa," a slurred word, but a word nonetheless. The fox pup spoke. The Third knew it was possible, there were legend of the foxes speaking as far back as history was recorded, but he'd hoped that this fox wouldn't be one of those few who'd learn the human tongue. Sadly it was not to be. Over the next few weeks the Third used simple, but effective illusions to make Umeko's husband believe their dog cause some horrible illness, canine parvovirus, suggested by Takeo, whom also served as their 'vet.'
Now the Third was stuck caring for the pup again, thankfully Takeo's own canine companion, Shirohanone, would take the pup for several hours every day to get it out of his hair. The Third prayed that the pup would learn to assume a human form some time in the near future. It would mean he could just shunt the pup off to the orphanage then the academy, then the pup would be able to care for itself, and he wouldn't have to worry all the time.
Then on a wonderful day, fully five year after the child was found the Third announced to the village that the 'portal' was not the demon being sucked away, but the demon being sealed, into a child. The fox child had Learnt to take on a human form, the Third himself had spent a few hours a week encouraging him to discover and use his innate power.
The first signs of progress showed when the child was 'four' or at least four years after they'd found him, as the Third declared the day they found him as his birthday, he assumed a form, while not human, it was definitely an attempt at looking human. It took the child nearly half a year to get past, 'humans all smell the same' and use his eyes to determine what a human should look like. After that it took the child practically no time at all to form a generic human body of his apparent age. After a generic body was assumed the Hokage coached the child into changing certain features, to personalize the disguise and make it less generic.
The first of the changes was the blood-red eyes of the fox's natural form. They became rich blue eyes, similar to those of the Fourth. Instead of orange-red fur, that was all-to reminiscent of the child's mother, the Third coached him to lighten it. And the first hair colour he did successfully was a striking blond. The Third noticed it was that of the Fourth, apparently taken from the same picture as the eye colour. Two final changes would make the child's disguise perfect. Instead of a mop of hair that reminded the Third all too much of Guy Maito the Third suggested that the child use a shorter variant of the Fourth's hair style. Finally the Third insisted that the child should remove the whiskers that he seemed to have trouble disguising. Sadly the child had no luck what so ever in removing them, he could however anchor them to his face and make them appear as though they were birth marks, which the Third declared as acceptable, for now.
As a final test the Third had Umeko bring the child, dubbed Naruto, for a rather odd passion of his for fishcakes, to the park with a set of Hyuuga mothers, who the Third knew for a fact checked every single child with their Byakugan before letting them anywhere near their children. After a nice day at the park and playing with the Hyuuga heiress, Naruto's disguise was considered a complete success. Now the Third only had to convince the child to don the form unless he absolutely had to be out of it, after all he had to pose it as a prank against the Hyuuga, playing on the fox's inherently mischievous nature to get him to don it for so long today. In the end it was a promise of ramen that had Naruto convinced.
And Naruto was presented to the village as 'the container of the dreaded nine-tailed fox' and given the family name Uzumaki to commemorate the false seal the third had Naruto form on his stomach, in a distinctive swirl. And so life went on, the village was told that the Fourth saw Naruto as a saviour of the people, but they shunned him, attacked him and a few times they attacked him. At the age of eight he entered the academy with those his age and he grew bored. Thus did he start pranking, and thusly did he start evading first chounin then jounin, annoying the villagers, and establishing himself as a fool. He excelled at illusions, and with both spells and hand to hand combat he did mediocre, but his weapon use was dismal, at best. For this reason the teachers kept him back for two year, hoping that, on his third failure, when he lost the chance to be a ninja they would never have to see him again.
A Few Notes:
Takeo: Gentleman, hero
Shirohanone: WhiteFang
Umeko: Plum child, plum blossom child
Genjustu: Illusionary Art/Technique/Skill, thus just Illusion, as it makes more sense in English
Ninjustu: a style on martial arts, in Naruto, ninja skills, but they're essentially spells, so I'm calling them that, "Ninja magic" and all that
Taijustu: body art, hand to hand combat.
My translations are not literal, like so many authors, but contextual, meaning, something like "Ta gueule" which reads literally your mouth/face/throat, and a literal translation would have it as your mouth, but I would translate it as, 1) Shut up 2) Shut your trap(which is much closer to the literal meaning, and still holds true to the contextual meaning, thus is the better translation, at least in my mind.). Mind you ta guele is usually followed by some explanative or other (a Quebecor might add: "ostie trou de cul!" which means something to the effect of fucking asshole. and any other french person might add connard, which is asshole)
Also I'm not using Japanese in this, except for given names because this is an English fiction and I want to see if I can do it.